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McKenna Newborn Summary: Week Six


This is a summary for McKenna the ages 5-6 weeks old, the sixth week. This week was wonderful. There were no bumps, though also no strides.

GAS
McKenna's gas seems to be getting better. She has gripe water twice a day: once in the morning and once in the evening. After every other feeding, she has gas drops. The gripe water does just fine. It doesn't seem to be better than gas drops, but it works just as well.

BURPING
Perhaps her gas is getting better because I have found a new burping trick. I burp her after feedings and all goes well. The trick is right before her nap. I swaddle her, then I hold her up in burping position with her head by my shoulder. I then very lightly pat her back. A burp often comes out. For some reason, she burps really easily while swaddled.

NURSING
She is continuing to be more alert for nursings. There are a few she even keeps her eyes open the whole time. It seems what is happening now is 15-20 minutes on side one and 10-15 minutes on side two. So it is about the same length overall, but split differently.

WAKETIME
Waketime is the same this week. I currently shoot for 50 minutes of waketime. If she shows signs of needing to go down sooner, I put her down. Sometimes she doesn't get down until 60 and that has been just fine. But at 50, she is in a quiet alert phase and just drifts off to sleep. She doesn't have trouble at other points, but when I watch her on the video monitor, she will turn her head back and forth instead of just falling asleep.

NAPS
Naps went back on track this week. She slept her full time for naps and went back to needing to be woken to eat for most naps. The first day after her growth spurt was over, she woke early from her morning nap. I could tell she was not hungry at all. I figured she had just gotten in the habit of waking early. I found McKenna does not sleep in the swing at all, so that trick of mine does not work for her (see Waking Early From Naps/Won't Fall Asleep For Naps: http://babywisemom.blogspot.com/2008/01/waking-early-from-napswont-fall-asleep.html). Instead, I held her until she was almost asleep, but still put her in her crib awake. I didn't rock her at all or anything. I just held her. I had to hold her for about 10-20 minutes. Then I put her in her bed and she went back to sleep to finish the nap. I only had to do it for that one nap and she went right back to her old self.

NIGHTTIME SLEEP
Here is where I wanted progression and saw none. This was the first week that I didn't set my alarm to get two feedings out of her during the night. She continued to wake twice each night. I had mixed emotions about it. Of course I would like to go to one feeding a night. But I can also tell that she still needs them. McKenna was tiny at birth, and at 6 weeks she is still smaller than a lot of babies when they are born. She is growing just fine and as she should, but she is small. So I am not sure she can quite make it through the night on one feeding, but I do think she is getting there.

I also wonder if I have created this need for two feedings a night. Since she has always been woken twice, her metabolism has been trained to it. If this is the case, there really isn't much I could have done to prevent it. She doesn't eat well sooner than 3 hours in the day, so to get 8 feedings in her in a 24 hour period, I needed to wake her. Also, I really needed to be sure she didn't wake up while I was in the middle of feeding my older two children breakfast.

So what would I recommend? If this is your only child OR you don't need to have a predictable morning (your older child(ren) is capable of taking care of himself in the morning or you have a spouse home at that time of day to help), I would let the baby sleep longer and see what happens (but I wouldn't go longer than the recommended 5 hours until baby is 5 weeks old).

If you have older children or a need to be sure your baby will not wake up at a certain time, you might want to wake in the night if needed at first.

I could have let her go longer and seen if then she would have taken in an extra feeding during the day. I don't have regrets at all. This has worked fine and frankly I am getting enough sleep. I don't want to continue like this forever, but it is fine for now. It works well for my family to have her eating in the day when she does, so it has all be fine. I am not concerned that this will never end; I know it will. When she is ready, she will either drop it or I will be able to tell she is ready and will help her to drop it (I am not sure how; I will decide if I need to).

OUTINGS/EVENTS
McKenna ate really well from her bottle this week. She ate quickly and didn't seem to mind the bottle in the least. She didn't get the look on her face of "what on earth is this?" She just ate. That was nice.

I went on a Mommy/Daughter date with Kaitlyn on the Saturday of this week. Traffic was really bad because of graduation ceremonies at the university, so we were late in getting home. My husband called and I told him to give McKenna some formula. So, she had her first taste of formula this week also. He only fed her 1.5 ounces before I got home, then I nursed her. She ate it well and quickly. I like to have my children used to the taste of formula in case I never need to give it to them. If I have surgery, need to leave town, lose milk supply, or even die (I just want to be prepare), I don't want to complicate the experience by them refusing nourishment.

We went to a dinner party with friends this week, also. McKenna slept the whole time and showed no sign of disturbance to routine when we returned home.

We also took McKenna to church for the first time. I adjusted her schedule a bit for church. She normally eats at 10:30 AM. Our church starts at 11:00 AM. I let her sleep, got her up at 10:45, we drove to church (about a minute or two away), then I fed her at church in the Mother's Lounge. I didn't want to feed her at home at 10:30 since she takes 30 minutes to eat; I didn't want us to be late. After I fed her, she had some waketime. Then when it was time for a nap, I wrapped her up in her swaddle blanket. I then held her. She wasn't so pleased with this. She didn't cry, but she was squirming around looking quite uncomfortable. I finally just put her on the bench next to me and she went to sleep. When it was time to go to Sunday School, I put her in my new sling to carry her around. That was really nice. One reason is that she was supported and I didn't have my arm go dead. I was able to use my arm to hold scriptures and raise my hand for comments. Another reason is that she was protect from other people :). It is harder for people to touch your baby when she is in a sling. Not to be crazy or anything, but I don't want her getting sick. McKenna usually eats at 1:30, but our church ends at two. I let her continue sleeping until the end of church. Then I put her in her carseat, where she woke up as I was putting her in, and fed her when we got home. No problem.

Another event was dinner at my parent's house to celebrate my sister's birthday. This wasn't particularly disruptive for her. My Mom has a crib, so I put her in the crib to sleep. She slept great. So the nice thing about that even was seeing that she slept just as well in a new bed in a new house.

I also had my 6 week postpartum visit. I wondered how she would do for this because she hates her carseat. I fed her and we left for the doctor. She fell asleep on the way and stayed asleep the entire time we were at the doctor and driving home. Once we got home, I put her carseat in her room but left her in it. I don't find babies transfer well. I then woke her when it was time to eat.

EMOTIONS
Emotions were better this week. Nothing huge to report, but I did want to say that I have written the emotions post and it is in line to be published this coming Friday.

INFECTIONS
I got a yeast infection in my nipples this week. I wanted to mention it because when I first got one with Kaitlyn, I had no idea what it was. It got worse and worse until I was bleeding and split open. It was really painful. I finally did some reading and realized I had a yeast infection. Once I started treatment, the pain subsided and I eventually healed. And yes, I continued nursing through it! I am so stubborn.

So this time I knew immediately. I was able to get some medication for it. McKenna doesn't have any signs of thrush, so I am hoping this is short-lived. Kaitlyn and I passed it back and forth until she was about 7 months old (but I wasn't bleeding the whole time, just until I started treatment). If anyone has any wonderful yeast infection remedies, I am all ears (or eyes I guess).

I also forgot to mention back in week two I think that I had mastitis. This was not big news for me; I got mastitis with both Brayden and Kaitlyn. I know the signs well enough to get it taken care of immediately, so it was only an issue for an evening and night (before antibiotics took care of things).

Just be mindful of things while breastfeeding and on the lookout for infections. While there is discomfort when you are initially breastfeeding, it shouldn't be painful long-term. You might need to build up some callouses, but it shouldn't take forever. Plugged ducts happen, but if you start to feel like you have the flu, see your doctor. Also, with both Kaitlyn and McKenna I had minimal pain when I first started breastfeeding them. The yeast infection with both started around 5 weeks old. That is when the pain started. If you have been breastfeeding successfully for some time and suddenly have tender nipples, consider the possibility of a yeast infection.

HELPFUL BOOKS
Here is the list of helpful books for newborn phase:
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McKenna Newborn Summary: Week One

I thought it would be interesting, and hopefully helpful, for me to summarize life each week. I will do this until it doesn't seem worth it anymore :). These first weeks can be so hard and require so much troubleshooting that it can be nice to see what others have done.

Before I start, please do not be discouraged by the smooth things for us. Not only is this my third baby, but in writing this blog I think about this stuff all the time. All the help that I have given to others has taught me a lot. So not only do I have my personal experience, but I have learned a lot through the experiences of others. With that in mind, here are some interesting points from our first week with McKenna.

GAS
While still in the hospital, my husband and I noticed that McKenna had gas pains. Brayden was also a baby who had gas pains, though we didn't notice until he was 6 weeks old. And when I say we, I mean a friend of my little sister's noticed. Her baby (who was then 9 months old) also had gas, so she recognized the symptoms. Luckily for McKenna, we were much faster at noticing her gas pains.

Kaitlyn never had gas pains. Because of our experience with Brayden, I bought several bottles of the gas drops before she was born, only to literally throw them away last fall when they expired. This time, we didn't have any purchased. My husband went to the store and bought some gas drops before we left the hospital. I then started giving her gas drops after every nursing.

The first couple of nights home, McKenna had severe gas pain for a period in the middle of the night. Since then, however, she has been fine. The gas drops seem to be doing the trick.

NURSING
McKenna is a great nurser. She is efficient and has an excellent latch on. She has nursed well from the beginning. In The Baby Whisperer Solves All Your Problems, Hogg mentions that your baby needs to nurse at least 15 minutes on one side to get all the fatty milk she needs, but preferably a lot more. She suggests you shoot for that length of time before switching and offering the second side. She wants you to focus on single-side nursing.

I have always been a two-side nurser. McKenna does both right now. About half of the time, she literally refuses to even open her mouth for the second side (not to try to put actions in a newborn that aren't there; she just really isn't interested in that second side). It isn't even that she is asleep and hard to wake up. Her eyes can be wide open and she just isn't interested.

Kaitlyn was one who nursed 10 minutes on each side from birth. She gained weight really fast. Despite that, the words of Hogg have been ringing in my ears bringing me doubt in the ability of McKenna to get what she needed in 10 minutes.

Today I read What to Expect the First Year. I like their advice on nursing length. That is that every baby is different and nurses at a different pace. They also mentioned that some younger babies simply can't handle nursing from more than one side at a time at first. McKenna is a tiny baby, so I can see that being true of her.

Ultimately, McKenna is a fast nurser. Sometimes she will take two sides, sometimes she won't. I still have to wake her for 6 of the 8 feedings in a day (including night feedings), so she is obviously getting enough to eat right now. I know I have more than enough milk, so she is just getting satisfied with one side for now.

Something interesting about McKenna that I noticed in the first couple of days of her life is that a diaper change in the middle of a feeding is never productive. This trick was my sure-fire way to get Kaitlyn to wake up to eat for side two. For McKenna, it seems to prevent any chance of her eating from side two. I just have to get her done as fast as possible.

BURPING
I always hate figuring out how to best burp the baby. I don't consider myself a good "burper." What worked for one child isn't necessarily going to work for another. Honestly a very happy time for me is when baby finally gets to that point where burping is easy. Burping is very important. I have had two babies with gas and one with reflux, so I know how vital it is.

Hogg had the trick for McKenna in her book under her section on "gas." That is to rub up the left side of baby's back under the ribs. This is where the stomach is. This works really well for her.

WAKETIME
I am a lot smarter about waketime with McKenna than I was with Kaitlyn. With Kaitlyn, I tried to keep her up for an hour at a time. I have since learned that for a newborn, a much shorter waketime is perfectly fine (when looking toward nighttime sleep) and preferable. McKenna's waketime lengths vary from 30-45 minutes. I do not watch the clock for the length; I watch her. But I do take note of what time I got her up and what time I put her down.

Our activities are very simple. We eat. We change diaper. We change clothes if needed. We do sponge baths and wash hair. We look into each other's eyes. That about does it. There are a couple of times a day that she has interaction from her siblings. They hold and kiss her. But I try to keep those interactions short and few so she doesn't ever overstimulated at this young age. She will also have some interaction with Daddy, but it is calm :).

NIGHTTIME SLEEP
This is a topic of great interest. Here is the rundown of McKenna's sleep since we have been home from the hospital:

Night One:
McKenna ate at 10:15 PM, 12:00 AM, 2:15 AM, 4:45 AM, and I woke her at 8:15 AM. What a night! Why so many feedings? One, she is small. She is under 6 pounds, so I definitely wasn't going to try to hold her out at all if she was hungry. Also, my milk was still colostrum and I don't think that was holding her over. Finally, she had awful gas pains that night, so she woke frequently.

Night Two:
McKenna at at 9:50 PM, 1:30 AM, and 4:00 AM. I got her up at 7:45 AM. This was much better. She did have a gas pain situation this night, also, though.

Night Three:
McKenna at at 9:50 PM, 1:45 AM, and 4:45 AM. I then woke her at 7:45 AM. This was the night that I first had to wake her for a night feeding. I woke her at 4:45. I could let her go up to 5 hours, but I want to keep morning waketime as consistent as possible. I also need to have at least 8 feedings in her and she does better with a longer schedule in the day--resulting in needing two night feedings right now.

Night Four:
McKenna at at 10:15 PM, 2:15 AM, and 6:15 AM. I woke her at 8:15 AM. I woke her for all four of these feedings listed.

Night Five:
McKenna at at 10:00 PM, 1:35 AM (she woke for this), and 5:15 AM. I then woke her at 8:00 AM.

So you can see that nighttime sleep is really going well for her thus far. I would be interested to see how long she would go at night, but my desire for consistent morning waketime along with keeping 8 feedings a day has me setting my alarm and waking her up :)

NAPS
Naps are going really well. I wake McKenna for the great majority of her feedings. This is not uncommon with a newborn.

We swaddle McKenna for all naps and nighttime. She likes to be swaddled tightly.

McKenna also puts herself to sleep. I implemented the 4 S's described in Hogg's book The Baby Whisperer Solves All Your Problems when McKenna was three days old. McKenna goes down for every nap of the day awake and has never cried for even a second. Love it!

McKenna sleeps at night in her bassinet in our room right now. She takes all but one nap in her crib in her room.

So there are the basics of our first week. I have a few things I have learned that I will put into individual posts. All in all, I am completely satisfied with how things are going so far.

HELPFUL BOOKS
These are the books I have consulted this week:


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